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I was contacted by Emirates with the following statement on the devaluation mentioned in the post below. Devaluations are a bitter pill to swallow no matter how they are implemented, but it would have been much better to notify the loyalty base of the the planned devaluation instead of doing it randomly over the holidays in the middle of the night. With that said, it appears that earning on Emirates will increase the rate of return you will earn miles on some of their routes which is at least a bit of positive news.
“In line with current market conditions, Emirates Skywards is introducing an increase on Skywards Miles required for Upgrade Rewards and Classic Rewards booked in Business Class and First Class. The increase will be gradually introduced on reward tickets across the Emirates network between 22 December 2022 and 31 January 2023.
To reduce the impact of this change on our most loyal customers, we will be increasing the bonus Skywards Miles earning opportunities for all Platinum, Gold and Silver members travelling with Emirates.
On all Emirates flights booked from 31 January 2023 onwards, Skywards Platinum members will earn a further 100% of the Economy Flex+ Miles earned on a given route (increasing from 75%); Skywards Gold members will earn 75% of the Economy Flex+ Miles earned on a given route (increasing from 50%); and Skywards Silver Members will earn 30% of the Economy Flex+ Miles earned on a given route (increasing from 25%).
For more information on earning and spending Skywards Miles and to view the Miles calculator, please visit emirates.com/skywards.”
(Original post is below:)
UGH! One of the best ways to fly Emirates first class, including their game changer, is now more expensive. I’ve been tracking flights pretty closely the past few days trying to get a ride in the game changer first class with my buddy and suddenly all of the first class seats are pricing at 102k whereas before they were 85k, and business has popped from 72.5k to 87k.
It looks like the new structure has increased most rates across the network by 20%
- Business Saver – 54k but needs to be booked roundtrip at 108k
- Business Flex – 87k now up from 72.5k
- First Flex is now 102k, up from 85k
New Dubai to Europe pricing
Yesterday these were 85k, but here’s a look at the pricing from Dubai to Europe now
Here is a flexible search look
And in business class
Emirates calculator hasn’t been updated
It is still showing lower pricing:
New Business Saver rates
And you can see here in business class there should be business saver at 90k roundtrip
but If we look here it’s actually pricing at 108k roundtrip
Which is confirmed here when you break down
Istanbul to Dubai has changed as well
I just booked this for 71,250 less than a week ago and It has jumped
Overall
The devaluation is one thing, but it’s really a crap thing to do without notification to Emirates loyalists who, like myself, may have been amidst planning a trip and no longer have the miles needed to book all passengers. These fly by night program changes have become far too common and are a reminder to use your points and miles when you see a good deal before they lose value in the long term.
I haven’t done an extensive search to see other routes, so let me know if you see more and I will update
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I don’t think the airline would consider you a “loyalist” (at least, not one that they care to cater to) if your flying solely consists of saver award tickets booked with credit card miles transferred to Skywards rather than being a frequent purchaser of cash tickets (and ideally, full-fare premium cabin tickets)
Strikes me as an odd thing to debate? If you have an Emirates account you should have been notified of the change before it was enacted. If you have an Emirates account you’re a loyalty member by default aka a loyalist. Are you saying Emirates should only have notified those with status, spent x amount, fly high value cash fares, and left everyone else in the dark?
No I’m saying the point of a frequent flier program is to reward more spend with the airline, that’s what Emirates (or any airline) is trying to get out of their FF program. This change really doesn’t affect the customers that EK and other airlines want to cater to the most, that is the frequent premium cabin flier that is paying cash fares. Why? Because they will have a giant stash of miles from flying plus another giant stash of credit card points from high personal spend and / or corporate card spend. Whether a redemption is 70k or 80k or 150k doesn’t really matter if you have millions of points and miles between your accounts, which top fliers definitely have. To those top fliers that the airline cares about, the fact that other people can no longer afford the mileage redemptions is actually a positive, that means they’re more likely to have a redemption on the date / route they want. So this is a positive change for those top fliers (the “loyalists” that Emirates and other airlines actually want to cater to and win more business from), but a negative change for people who don’t actually spend much cash with Emirates.
Also, if someone has a loyalty account but has never actually flown with them, does that really make them a “loyalist” (for example I have an SQ Krisflyer account in case I want to transfer credit card points but I’ve never been on a Singapore airlines plane, am I really a Singapore Airlines “loyalist” or just a member of their loyalty program)? The “loyalists” that airlines care to cater to are the ones that spend actual cash with them, someone who only transfers credit card points to redeem saver tickets produces minimal profit for them, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they are deprioritized for actual big cash spenders, the ones that would qualify for UA GS / DL 360 / AA Concierge Key / the equivalent on any other airline
I have no special insight but this strikes me as seriously weird because of the huge fuel surcharges on Emirates. Bad redemption rates + bad YQ= stay away. The small bright spot in this is that the fifth freedom flights between the U.S. and Europe are still the same and lacking the gruesome YQ from some other routes.